The Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs in Beirut, Lebanon, the late Zaha Hadid’s first building in the Arab world, is among 19 projects competing to win $1m in the 2016 Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

The centre (pictured) is a conference a learning facility aimed at promoting understanding and debate across the world.

Other regional projects including developments in Iran, Jordan and Saudi Arabia are also shortlisted to win the triennial award, one of the most lucrative architectural prizes held.

It is awarded in recognition of architecture and infrastructure projects that demonstrate design excellence, but also address the needs and aspirations of societies where Muslims have a significant presence.

The 19 selected projects cover 14 different countries.. They include three projects in Iran, where the gradual lifting of economic sanctions is paving the way for a generation of young architects to find work.

They were chosen from a longlist of 348, by a panel of judges that included architects Emre Arolat and Dominique Perrault, as well as Mohsen Mostafavi, dean of Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, and Columbia University philosophy professor Akeel Bilgrami.

A team of architects, conservation specialists and structural engineers will now visit each of the projects. The judges will use their reports to decide which projects will receive commendations.